Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Davey. More than seven million Australians live outside our capital cities, and the Liberal-National government backs their aspirations for a strong and prosperous future. Recently, I was able to visit the Jolliffes' farm in the Riverina. They're real dairy farmers. Their son is finishing the HSC and they have employed a young farm-worker, and both of those young people want to stay on farm and work in agriculture in their local communities, despite the drought, and they're planning for their future.

The No. 1 issue that we hear about as we travel through rural and regional Australia is local job provision. That is why our side of government supports and backs our mining industry. That's why we support and back our agriculture industry, now and for the next generation. Regional Australians want to ensure that their kids can access a high-quality education—that geography should not be a determinant for opportunity in this country—and we are working very, very clearly towards that end. They want high-quality health care, and they want connectivity of the 21st century—not just roads and rail but digital connectivity to help them connect with the markets of the globe.

That's why we've been able to deliver a half-a-billion-dollar stronger rural health workforce package, where we're going to have 3,000 GPs and 3,000 nurses, additional, out into rural and regional Australia. It's why we've also got record funding going to schools in this country and a $152 million regional student access to education program. We've got half a billion dollars in additional new funding to improve regional higher education opportunities, through income support and scholarships. We've increased funding for mobile black spot programs and for Sky Muster and a $60 million Regional Connectivity Program to sustain and improve access to essential services for our rural and regional economies and also backing the industries that underpin them.